At a time when the threat of climate change is prompting countries to reshape their environmental and energy policies, China's commitment through investments, manufacturing prowess and supportive policies is anchoring its leadership in the clean energy sphere.

With the shift in stance by the Trump administration towards climate change, China now leads in global investment in clean energy, channelling substantial amounts into projects across solar and wind power, EVs and battery production.

Over the last two decades, China has achieved stunning growth in its installed renewable capacity, far outpacing the rest of the world. It currently produces 31% of its electricity from renewable sources including wind, solar, hydroelectricity, and geothermal. While the country is still heavily reliant on coal, estimates predict that by 2026 solar will overtake the fossil fuel as China’s leading energy source.

On this episode of Eco Money, Ivy Yin, Market Specialist for Energy Transition and Carbon at S&P Global shares her insight on whether China's financial and policy reforms are enough to push the world's biggest polluter towards dominance in renewables.

Presented by: Audrey Siek
Produced by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Photo credits: VCG / AP Photo

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With an emissions trading system, the policy involves setting a total cap or limit on carbon emissions, which makes companies switch to low-emission or renewable energy sources. In contrast, a carbon tax establishes a price directly on carbon emissions so that companies are charged a certain amount for every tonne of emissions produced.

While some countries have adopted both an ETS and a carbon tax, other countries have chosen to adopt one policy only. But, the question is - which policy can more effectively reduce carbon emissions?

On this episode of Eco Money, Daniel Lee, Associate Professor of Practice at the Nanyang Business School and Director of the Carbon Markets Academy at NTU’s College of Business shares his insights.

Presented by: Emaad Akhtar
Produced by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Photo credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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Carbon offsets first took off in the 2000s when the UN launched the Clean Development Mechanism.

For those who might not be familiar, carbon credits are intended to reduce, remove, or avoid emissions. But while the intentions are good for our planet, companies working to generate climate benefits through credit purchases often grapple with the differences and uncertainties of credit quality to ensure that those benefits are real.

Beyond differences, bad practice and questionable science in the voluntary carbon markets mean that firms relying on offsetting to hit net zero targets risk greenwashing.

So, do carbon offset projects necessarily meet set targets, and can the results be reliably measured?

On this episode of Eco Money, Dr Ruipeng Liu, Senior Lecturer for the Finance Group at Deakin Business School shares his insights.

Presented by: Audrey Siek
Produced by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Photo credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

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